Sydney Film Festival 2011 - A Preview

The 2011 Sydney Film Festival in Australia will open on the 8th June and run over 12 days. With a program that encompasses 161 titles in 47 languages from 42 countries, this year's SFF promises to be 'a rousing chorus of unfettered vision, enquiry and creativity'.

The Opening Night film will be Joe Wright's espionage thriller HANNA starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana; and the Closing Night film will be Mike Mill's romantic comedy BEGINNERS starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. Special guests at the Festival will include Jack Black, Lucy Liu, director Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who will all be there to introduce the Australian premiere of Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D; while Cate Blanchett will be the Opening Night guest.

OFFICIAL COMPETITIONCompeting for the Sydney Film Prize, worth 60,000 Australian dollars, are the following 12 films that will be judged by a jury led by Chen Kaige (FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, TOGETHER):

• Direct from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, two Australian films will have their Australian premieres at the 2011 Sydney Film Festival: SLEEPING BEAUTY (Official Competition at Cannes) and Ivan Sen's TOOMELAH (Un Certain Regard at Cannes)

• Two award-winners from Berlin Film Festival will also compete: Asghar Farhadi's A SEPARATION which won Best Film and both Best Acting awards for its ensemble cast and Joshua Marston's THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD which won Best Screenplay.

• Bold and inventive films from Spain - Fernando León de Aranoa's AMADOR; Russia - Alexander Zeldovich's TARGET and Egypt - Mohamed Diab's CAIRO 678 are also having their Australian Premieres in the Official Competition selection.

• Completing the line-up are the three previously announced films - ATTENBERG by Athina Rachel Tsangari; THE FUTURE by Miranda July and NORWEGIAN WOOD directed by Tran Anh Hung.

PATHWAYSThe Sydney Film Festival uses 'Pathways', an innovative way of dividing the films into categories that would help audiences answer the question 'What sort of film do I feel like seeing?' The Pathways include:

It definitely looks like a great program to me, and I am really looking forward to attending the Festival. I'll be bringing you regular film news and reviews from the SFF over the coming weeks. So please keep an eye out for them, and if the line-up contains any of your favourites, or there is something you think I should absolutely avoid, be sure to let me know through the Comments section!

Embedded below is the official trailer for the 2011 Sydney Film Festival.